Nephalem Valor Stacks *Required* For Keys and Mats

Posted By: September 27, 2012

Interesting info from Blizzard about how Monster Power and Nephalem Valor stacks impact your odds of getting the keys required to activate the Infernal Machine, and of finding the new demonic organs required to create the Hellfire Torch Ring.

Key drops should NOT be effected by monster level. people who CHOOSE to play at whatever level they choose, should NOT be rewarded or punished for their choice. give them each about a 10-20% chance of dropping, no matter the difficulty.

Also keys and organs should be TRADEABLE, let people have fun and play the game, and let the AH work as a gold sink, which is drastically needed.

Currently, both the keys and the demonic organ pieces (Vengeful Eye, Devil’s Fang, and Writhing Spine) have higher chances to drop in higher MP levels, all the way up to 100% in MP10.

I don’t want to weigh in on the current argument of whether or not drop chances should be affected by Monster Power level just yet. Obviously, we think it’s a good idea and worth trying out, but if you feel differently, then I’d definitely like for you to continue discussing your thoughts on that topic. If you don’t like it, tell us why. (Or, if you DO like it, be sure to weigh in too.)

I killed the act 3 keywarden on MP 10 once and the key didn’t drop. (didn’t have any NV stack though) You’ll need five stacks of NV in order for the keys and the demonic organ pieces to drop.

We felt this was a reasonable requirement, otherwise players could simply farm the keys in a lower MP, then set their game to MP10 and farm bosses for guaranteed drops. With the five stack, players will at least need to be able to kill monsters in that MP level in order to benefit from the increased organ drop chance.

Are you saying that unless you have five stacks of NV keywardens will not ever drop keys? Yup. (Or, at least that’s how it’s designed to work. If players are getting keys without the five stack, then that’s likely a bug.)

I don’t necessarily disagree with the five stacks of NV requirement, though it seems mostly meant to increase the depth of the time sink that farming keys is meant to be. However, I don’t quite follow the logic argued here. Wouldn’t killing the Uber bosses on Monster Power 10 be much harder than earning five stacks while hunting the key wardens on say, MP0?

Comments

I guess they are doing Drop % chance, if you farm at mp0 it wont drop as often as 10, hmm not sure exactly if i am understanding this… so forgive my stupidity. if you want dem keys, ya gots to kill 5 elite packs. seems reasonable to me, and if i want that level 10 monster power 100% then i need to force myself to kill 5 elite packs. seems fair trade off.

It would have been nice to know that 5 NV stacks were required before I spent about 8 hours over the last 2 days trying to find the keys and the plan… I only bothered to get the full stacks on a fraction of those runs…

So I take it that in order to have a 100% chance for a key drop, you have to get a 5 stack of NV and kill the key warden at mlvl 10? That goes for the organs all well I will assume. To me this makes the argument for NV stacks to not disappear if you switch acts even more valid. If the stacks didn’t disappear when you switch acts, then you could get them and go to each key warden to get the keys without having to get a five stack everytime. Then again, it would make it easier for bots to get them I guess. There is also the time sink involved in that Blizz wants you playing the game for longer. I think it would take a very well geared character to get the keys and organs in a decent amount of time at mlvl 10 to get the 100% chance.

I am looking forward to having something else to do besides grinding for items. And you have the possibility to get a really good ring out of the deal. 1.05 is definitely looking like another step in the right direction.

I personally feel that the 5x NV Stacks requirement is fair. To answer your question, Flux, I think the reasoning behind this, is something we have always known: bosses are typically easier to kill than certain/most elite or champion packs. Now, I know that these aren’t exactly “normal bosses,” but I still think that mindset applies. So, I’m assuming that, since MP Levels increase the damage and life total of enemies, but do not change their pre-programmed AI, Blizzard decided to preemptively prevent a situation where, if people were to find a strategy that allowed the bosses to be killed easily regardless of MP level (i.e. it just took more time to kill them, but wasn’t any more difficult to do so,) or if people found a way to manipulate which boss fight you got, it would totally negate the whole idea of rewarding people for playing on a higher MP Level. They seem to have intentionally added a step that would “guarantee” that the player(s) would have earned the higher drop rate, and of course as previously mentioned, it extends the amount of time spent grinding for the keys.

Now, I haven’t fought the bosses (or played on the PTR for that matter,) so whether or not that statement is with or without merit is unknown to me; HOWEVER, if there’s one thing I DO know, it’s that the Diablo community is very good at “breaking the game,” so to speak. If there’s an easier way of doing something, or for example, a way to gain an advantage over those boss fights, they WILL find it. This kind of “future-proofs” that, in my opinion. I mean, let’s be honest: if 1.05 were released without the 5x NV requirement, and people with subpar gear found a way to rip those bosses up on MP10… Well, I think we ALL know how people would react to that. On the other hand, in the current state, if people find that same way to tear apart the bosses while being forced to farm 5x NV, it will seem more like a reward than a problem with the balancing. What I mean is… it would be more like, “congratulations on farming 5x NV Stacks on MP10!” rather than “ROFL I farmed keys on MP0 and then killed the MP10 bosses with almost no problem. lolololol”

And lastly… Believe me: I don’t see ANYTHING “easy” or “exploitable” about a fight with Ghom and Rakanoth on MP10, lol. Maghda and SK on the other hand… Yeah, maybe. I don’t really have any opinion on fhe SB and Kulle fight, though.

With that all done, I do have a few questions that I couldn’t find (or may have overlooked) the answers to.

Since the boss fight you get is random, does anyone know if the material you find for the Hellfire Ring is random as well?

Once you have a material for the Hellfire Ring, is it still possible to find another of that same material? Or will it (hopefully) “negate” that item from the possible drops until you no longer possess it?

Unlike the Hellfire Torch, are you allowed to have multiple Hellfire Rings on your account?

At the end of the first paragraph, I meant to say the materials/organs for the Hellfire Ring, not the keys; although it applies to both, I was specifically talking about the boss fights, in which case the keys would’ve already been obtained. 🙂

I think the portals can be controlled in the same manner as D2. Gather everything required to open all three portals in the same game, and then open all 3 portals in the same game. I would say it would be impossible to open the same portal more than once in the same game.